Local referendum as an (alternative) form of public participation in environmental protection - a case study of a municipal thermal waste conversion facility

Abstract

With the transposition of the Aarhus Convention, solutions were introduced into the national legal system to guarantee public participation in concretized environmental proceedings. In view of the lack of their binding value, the institution of a local referendum is increasingly used in practice. An example is the referendum carried out on the installation of thermal processing of municipal waste. This is because such an investment is preceded by an assessment of the project’s impact on the environment, which requires public participation. A comparative analysis of the individual results of local referendums held in recent years leads to the conclusion that they are rarely binding. The reason for this is the statutory requirements of achieving, including a strictly defined turnout which results in votes being declared invalid. At the same time, it should be noted that the small number of referendums held is related to the impossibility of eliminating the associated additional expenses for individual local government units. In this publication, the author would like to propose measures of a different kind, which, in combination with convention instruments, can more effectively influence the planning of investments that affect the environment. The paper uses the dogmatic-legal method.